Sea Hare (Aplysia sydneyensis)

This sea slug would have been about 5 " in length. It had mottling of cream and brown. The ear-like sensory clubs or rhinophores and oral tentacle were withdrawn and the usually extended side flaps called parapodia were flipped back. The mantle and atrophied shell could be seen (pic 5) as a reddish radiating structure.
Expert Matt Nimbs explains that the wheel like pattern of radiating stripes on the mantle that sits over the vestigial shell is a distinguishing characteristic of A. sydneyensis.
Seen washed ashore ( inter-tidal zone) - Western Port Bay-Balnarring beach. It was safely returned to the ocean and disappeared amidst the seagrass.